Dictionary:
bo·dhi·satt·va (bō'dĭ-sŭt'və)  |
An enlightened being who, out of compassion, forgoes nirvana in order to save others.
[Sanskrit bodhisattvaḥ, one whose essence is enlightenment : bodhiḥ, perfect knowledge + sattvam, essence, being (from sat-, existing).]
| Britannica Concise Encyclopedia: bodhisattva |
For more information on bodhisattva, visit Britannica.com.
| The Religion Book: Bodhisattva |
In Mahayana Buddhism, a Bodhisattva is one who has attained enlightenment, whose Buddha nature has found peace, but who has renounced Nirvana for the sake of helping others in their journey to liberation from suffering.
Sources: Ellwood, Robert S., and Barbara A. McGraw. Many Peoples, Many Faiths. 6th ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1999.
| Buddhism Dictionary: Bodhisattva |
(Sanskrit; Pāli, Bodhisatta). The embodiment of the spiritual ideal of Mahāyāna Buddhism, in contrast to the earlier Arhat ideal advocated by the Hīnayāna. Bodhisattva literally means ‘enlightenment being’ but the correct Sanskrit derivation may be ‘bodhi-sakta’ meaning ‘a being who is orientated towards enlightenment’. The ideal is inspired by the lengthy career of the Buddha before he became enlightened, as described in the Jātakas. A Bodhisattva begins his career by generating the aspiration (praṇidhāna) to achieve enlightenment for the sake of all beings, often in the form of a vow, which according to many Mahāyāna texts is often accompanied by a prediction of success (vyākaraṇa) by a Buddha. He then embarks on the path leading to enlightenment (bodhi) by cultivating the Six Perfections (ṣaḍ-pāramitā) and the four means of attracting beings (saṃgraha-vastu) over the course of three immeasurable kalpas. The spiritual progress of a Bodhisattva is usually subdivided into ten stages or levels (bhūmi). Many Mahāyāna sūtras state that a Bodhisattva forgoes his own final enlightenment until all other beings in saṃsāra have been liberated, or else describe a special form of nirvāṇa, the unlocalized nirvāṇa (apratiṣṭha-nirvāṇa) by virtue of which a Bodhisattva may be ‘in the world but not of it’. Earlier Mahāyāna sūtras are specific in their belief that a Bodhisattva can only be male but later texts allow the possibility of female Bodhisattvas.
| Asian Mythology: Bodhisattva |
Depending on the sect of Buddhism (see Buddhism), the word bodhisattva has essentially two meanings. Literally, a bodhisattva is a person who is seeking Enlightenment (bodhi). In early Pāli (see Pāli) Buddhism—Buddhism contained in the Pāli as opposed to Sanskrit texts; for example, Theravāda (see Theravāda Buddhism) and other forms of Hīnayāna Buddhism (see Hīnayāna Buddhism), the so-called “small vehicle” of India, Burma, Sri Lanka, Cambodia, and Laos—the word refers to particular beings, saints (see arhat) in past eons who were on the path to full Enlightenment or Nirvāna. It refers especially to the preenlightenment stages of Gautama Buddha (see Gautama Buddha), the Buddha Sākyamuni, who is commonly called simply “the Buddha.” In later or Mahāyāna Buddhism (see Mahāyāna Buddhism)—the “great vehicle” of Nepal, Sikkhim, Tibet, China, Mongolia, Vietnam, Korea, and Japan—the bodhisattva is the compassionate person whose life is dedicated to the salvation of others and to becoming a Buddha only in some far distant eon. The Mahāyāna Buddhists thus stress the possibility for many people of the “bodhisattva path” (in Sanskrit the Bodhisattvayāna or bodhisattvacarya) leading to enlightenment, and there are many celebrated bodhisattvas (see Buddhism, Avalokiteśvara).
| Columbia Encyclopedia: bodhisattva |
| Occultism & Parapsychology Encyclopedia: Bodhisattva |
A Buddhist term for one who exists in enlightenment of truth and compassion guided by love and wisdom. In Mahayana Buddhism, the bodhisattva is the ideal of progress; in Theravada Buddhism, the bodhisattva is an aspirant for Buddha-hood. In Theosophy the bodhisattva is the director of the spiritual development of each root-race and founder of religions, which he propagates through his messengers.
Sources:
The Bodhisattva Doctrine in Buddhism. Waterloo, Ontario: Canadian Corporation for Studies in Religion, Wilfrid Laurier University Press, 1981.
Candragomin. Difficult Beginnings: Three Works on the Bodhisattva Path. Boston: Shambhala, 1985.
Dayal, Har. The Bodhisattva Doctrine in Buddhist Sanskrit Literature. Delhi, India: Motilal Banarsidass, 1970.
| Wikipedia: Bodhisattva |
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Major Figures |
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Four Noble Truths |
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Practices and Attainment |
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Buddhahood · Bodhisattva |
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In Buddhism, a bodhisattva (Sanskrit: बोधिसत्त्व, bodhisattva; Bengali: বোধিসত্ত্ব, Bodhishotto, Tibetan: བྱང་ཆུབ་སེམས་དཔའ་; Wylie: byang chub sems dpa; Burmese: ဗောဓိသတ် Bawdithat, Vietnamese: Bồ Tát; Pali: बोधिसत्त, bodhisatta; Thai: โพธิสัตว์, phothisat; Japanese: 菩薩, bosatsu; simplified Chinese: 菩萨; traditional Chinese: 菩薩; pinyin: púsà) means either "enlightened (bodhi) existence (sattva)" or "enlightenment-being" or, given the variant Sanskrit spelling satva rather than sattva, "heroic-minded one (satva) for enlightenment (bodhi)." Another translation is "Wisdom-Being."[1] It is the name given to anyone who, motivated by great compassion, has generated bodhichitta, which is a spontaneous wish to attain Buddhahood for the benefit of all living beings.[2]
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The term Bodhisatta (Pali language) was used by the Buddha in the Pāli Canon to refer to himself both in his previous lives and as a young man in his current life, prior to his enlightenment, in the period during which he was working towards his own liberation. When, during his discourses, he recounts his experiences as a young aspirant, he regularly uses the phrase "When I was an unenlightened Bodhisatta..." The term therefore connotes a being who is "bound for enlightenment," in other words, a person whose aim is to become fully enlightened. In the Pali Canon, the Bodhisatta is also described as someone who is still subject to birth, illness, death, sorrow, defilement and delusion. Some of the previous lives of the Buddha as a bodhisattva are featured in the Jataka Tales.
In the Pāli Canon, the Bodhisatta Siddhartha Gotama is described as thus: [3]
before my Awakening, when I was an unawakened bodhisatta, being subject myself to birth, sought what was likewise subject to birth. Being subject myself to aging... illness... death... sorrow... defilement, I sought [happiness in] what was likewise subject to illness... death... sorrow... defilement.
—Ariyapariyesana Sutta
While Maitreya (Pali: Metteya) is mentioned in the Pāli Canon, he is not referred to as a bodhisattva, but simply the next fully-awakened Buddha to come into existence long after the current teachings of the Buddha are lost.
In later Theravada literature, the term bodhisatta is used fairly frequently in the sense of someone on the path to liberation. The later tradition of commentary also recognizes the existence of two additional types of bodhisattas: the paccekabodhisatta who will attain Paccekabuddhahood, and the savakabodhisatta who will attain enlightenment as a disciple of a Buddha.
Mahayana Buddhism, on the other hand, regards the Bodhisattva as a person who already has a considerable degree of enlightenment and seeks to use their wisdom to help other human beings to become liberated themselves. In this understanding of the word the Bodhisattva is an already wise person who uses skillful means to lead others to see the benefits of virtue and the cultivation of wisdom.
The Mahayana encourages everyone to become bodhisattvas and to take the bodhisattva vows. With these vows, one makes the promise to work for the complete enlightenment of all sentient beings by practicing the six perfections.[4] Indelibly entwined with the Bodhisattva Vow is parinamana (Sanskrit; which may be rendered in English as "merit transference").
In Mahayana Buddhism life in this world is compared to people living in a house that is on fire[5]. They take this world as reality pursuing worldly projects and pleasures without realising that the house is on fire and will soon burn down (the inevitability of death). A Bodhisattva is the one who has determination to free sentient beings from samsara with the cycle of death, rebirth and suffering. This type of mind is known as bodhicitta; Sanskrit for mind of awakening. Bodhisattvas take bodhisattva vows in order to progress on the spiritual path towards buddhahood.
There are a variety of different conceptions of the nature of a bodhisattva in Mahayana. According to some Mahayana sources a bodhisattva is someone on the path to full Buddhahood. Others speak of bodhisattvas renouncing Buddhahood. According to the Kun-bzang bla-ma'i zhal-lung, a bodhisattva can choose either of three paths to help sentient beings in the process of achieving buddhahood. They are:
Tibetan doctrine (like Theravada, for different reasons) recognizes only the first of these, holding that Buddhas remain in the world, able to help others, so there is no point in delay. Geshe Kelsang Gyatso notes: "In reality, the second two types of bodhichitta are wishes that are impossible to fulfil because it is only possible to lead others to enlightenment once we have attained enlightenment ourself. Therefore, only king-like bodhichitta is actual bodhichitta. Je Tsongkhapa says that although the other Bodhisattvas wish for that which is impossible, their attitude is sublime and unmistaken.[6]
East Asian doctrinal traditions tend to emphasize the second and/or third, the idea of deliberately refraining from becoming a Buddha, perhaps forever.
According to many traditions within Mahayana Buddhism, on the way to becoming a Buddha, a bodhisattva proceeds through ten, or sometimes fourteen, grounds or bhumi. Below is the list of the ten bhumis and their descriptions from The Jewel Ornament of Liberation, a treatise by Gampopa (an influential teacher of the Tibetan Kagyu school) and the Avatamsaka Sutra. Other schools give slightly variant descriptions.
Before a bodhisattva arrives at the first ground, he or she first must travel the first two of the five paths:
The ten grounds of the bodhisattva then can be grouped into the next three paths
The chapter of ten grounds in the Avatamsaka Sutra refers 52 stages, with the following 10 grounds
After the ten bhumis, according to Mahayana Buddhism, one attains complete enlightenment and becomes a Buddha.
With the 52 stages, the Shurangama Sutra in East Asia recognizes 57 stages. With the 10 grounds, various Vajrayana schools recognize 3-10 additional grounds[7], mostly 6 more grounds with variant descriptions.[8]
Various traditions within Buddhism believe in certain specific bodhisattvas. Some bodhisattvas appear across traditions, but due to language barriers may be seen as separate entities. For example, Tibetan Buddhists believe in various forms of Chenrezig, who is Avalokitesvara in Sanskrit, Guanyin (other spellings: Kwan-yin, Kuan-yin) in China and Korea, Quan Am in Vietnam, and Kannon (formerly spelled and pronounced: Kwannon) in Japan. Jizo or Ti Tsang is another popular bodhisattva in Japan and China (Ksitigarbha in Sanskrit). Jizo is known for aiding those who are lost. His greatest compassionate Vow being: "If I do not go to the hell to help the suffering beings there, who else will go? ... if the hells are not empty I will not become a Buddha. Only when all living beings have been saved, will I attain Bodhi."
Many followers of Tibetan Buddhism consider the 14th Dalai Lama and the Karmapa to be an incarnation of that same bodhisattva Chenrezig, the Bodhisattva of Compassion.
The bodhisattva is a popular subject in Buddhist art.
The place of a bodhisattva's earthly deeds, such as the achievement of enlightenment or the acts of dharma, is known as a bodhimanda, and may be a site of pilgrimage. Many temples and monasteries are famous as bodhimandas; for instance, the island of Putuoshan, located off the coast of Ningbo, is venerated by Chinese Buddhists as the bodhimanda of Avalokitesvara. Perhaps the most famous bodhimanda of all is the bodhi tree under which Shakyamuni achieved buddhahood.
Pollock (2005): p.43) provides a teaching story that evocatively describes the "nature of a Bodhisattva" and mentions 'circumambulation' (Tibetan: skor ba):
The nature of the Bodhisattva is apparent from a teaching story in which three people are walking through a desert. Parched and thirsty, they spy a high wall ahead. They approach and circumnavigate it, but it has no entrance or doorway. One climbs upon the shoulders of the others, looks inside, yells "Eureka" and jumps inside. The second then climbs up and repeats the actions of the first. The third laboriously climbs the wall without assistance and sees a lush garden inside the wall. It has cooling water, trees, fruit, etc. But, instead of jumping into the garden, the third person jumps back out into the desert and seeks out desert wanderers to tell them about the garden and how to find it. The third person is the Bodhisattva.[9]
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 | Dictionary. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2007. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. Read more |
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| Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. © 2006 Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. All rights reserved. Read more |
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| The Religion Book. The Religion Book. 2004 ©Visible Ink Press. All rights reserved. Read more |
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| Buddhism Dictionary. A Dictionary of Buddhism. Copyright © 2003, 2004 by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. Read more |
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| Asian Mythology. A Dictionary of Asian Mythology. Copyright © 2001, 2002 by David Leeming. All rights reserved. Read more |
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| Columbia Encyclopedia. The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition Copyright © 2003, Columbia University Press. Licensed from Columbia University Press. All rights reserved. www.cc.columbia.edu/cu/cup/ Read more |
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| Occultism & Parapsychology Encyclopedia. Encyclopedia of Occultism and Parapsychology. Copyright © 2001 by The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved. Read more |
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| Wikipedia. This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Bodhisattva". Read more |
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